Taking a Look Inside Kohl's Corporation Essay

Stephen B. Huttie, president of Wooster-based Crown Retail Consultants, said nationally, the retail industry is “over-stored.” So, the news about Kohl’s closing stores is not surprising. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. closed 154 stores in the United States in

Kohl’s is an American department store, founded by Maxwell Kohl in 1962. In 1946, Maxwell operated his first store which is known as Kohl’s Food Store. After the success of Kohl’s Food Store, he opened his first department store which is Kohl’s Department Store (present). Since that year, it has been operating in the retail industry and it offers clothing, furniture, accessories, electronics, and house ware products. During the 2000s. Kohl’s has expanded nationwide in the United States. Also, Kohl’s is the second largest retail store in the United States. In addition, the target group of Kohl’s are upper middle and upper class individuals especially families.(Gennrich, 2012)

Kohls has been struggling to stay ahead of competition in recent years, and is now trying unconventional business tactics. Kohl's has recently found itself in controversy after the corporation decided to partner itself with the internet powerhouse, Amazon. According to Forbes Magazine article, “Is Kohl's Making A Mistake Cozying Up To Amazon?”, Kohl's is one of the only off-line retail stores that is siding with Amazon. Author of the Forbes article, George Anderson, writes,” retailers attempting to slow Amazon’s advance have begun pulling their business from the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud operation. Others such as Walmart have pressured technology vendors to do the same.” Kohls making this move shows they have a “if you can’t beat them

Kohl’s main website features several “exclusive and national brand apparel, footwear, accessories, soft home products and housewares targeted to middle-income customers” (10k, pg. F-7). To be more specific, Kohl’s offers many brands of clothing to women, men, and children. Some of the name brands they offer include Nike, Adidas, Levi’s, Chaps, Van Heusen and Wrangler. Kohl’s also offers many products from their “private label, Apt. 9, which was designed to compete with the likes of Banana Republic, Liz Claiborne, and Perry Ellis” (Hoover Report, pg. 9). The Apt. 9 catalogue features high quality suit jackets and pants, polos, and button-up shirts for men. For women, Apt. 9 offers a wide range of tops, dresses, sleepware,

According to the Kroger business web page, in 1883 Barney Kroger invested his life savings of $372 to open a grocery store at 66 Pearl in downtown Cincinnati. The son of a merchant, he ran his business with a simple motto: Be particular. Never sell anything you would not want yourself. It is a motto that has served him well for the next 120 years. Today, Kroger has grown to 2500 stores with $70 billion revenues, 40 food processing plants ranging from bread, milk, soda pop, ice cream and peanut butter. Kroger operates under two dozen banners, has acquired warehouses, trucking companies, and has over 14,400 private-label items (The Kroger Co., 2012).

The story of Kohl's commenced during 1962 in Brookfield, Wisconsin. Founded by Max Kohl, the company initially began as a department store, meaning it sold a variety of goods, which back then included food produce. The company BATUS inc., a division of British American Tobacco, took control of Kohl’s Food department by purchasing 80% of their stake. BATUS was not able to deal with the amounting competition, so they went out of the retail business by the mid 1980’s, and later sold Kohl’s food stores to the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea company (A&P) in 1983.

American retailer Kohl’s has become a prevalent fixture for the purchase of discounted clothing and home goods in the mid-west for over twenty-five years. The history of the company however has roots much more modest than present day market dominance would suggest. Dating back to a Wisconsin supermarket in 1946, founder Max Kohl grew his small business to the most successful chain of supermarkets in the Milwaukee area (12). By 1962 Kohl opened his first department store in Brookfield, Wisconsin where an eclectic selection of merchandise, from sporting goods, motor oil and candy, was sold (11). In 1972, the Kohl’s Company which by then consisted of 50 grocery stores, six department stores, three drug

to see where the company is now with the use of a brief Swot analysis.

Kmart is a huge vintage company that had peeked at one time and now is

In 1883 Bernard (Barney) Kroger invested 372 dollars that consisted of his life savings to open the first ‘Kroger’ grocery. That first store, located at 66 Pearl Street in downtown Cincinnati, would soon turn into the giant retail chain that consists of nearly 2,500 stores all over the country and most recently produced sales of over 76 billion dollars. Barney Kroger was revolutionary in the formation of the modern grocery, in that he was the first grocer to have his own bakery, as well as selling meat and other groceries all under one roof. Kroger was also the first to manufacture the products that he in turn sold in his own store. This was the beginning of what is today one of the largest food manufacturing companies in America.

The Kroger Company grew in 128 years from one store to over 3,500 stores of various banners and products. The Kroger Company is the largest food and drug retailer in the United States and is growing constantly with diversity in the retail market, dealing in food, pharmacies, apparel, jewelry and fuel. Kroger is governed by a 14 member Board of Directors including a Chief Executive Officer. Kroger is a leader in Corporate Social responsibility by maintaining environmental consciousness, social awareness and energy conservation awareness. Kroger is committed to customers, builds diversity and focuses on growth. The company operates a large part of it’s own manufacturing and distribution to increase profit

The Kroger brand was born in 1883, Bernard 'Barney ' Kroger took his life savings of $372 to open his first store in downtown Cincinnati. This location is by I-71 that passes the Great American Ballpark. Barney Kroger, the son of a merchant, had a simple "Be particular. Never sell anything you would not want yourself." This was the credo that would serve The Kroger Co. well over the next 130 years as the supermarket business evolved into a variety of formats aimed towards satisfying the needs of their shoppers in as many aspects as possible. With nearly 3,619 stores in 34 states under 24 different names, such as Kroger, Dillons, Turkey Hill Minit Markets, Ralphs, Tom Thumb Food Stores, QuikStop, Fred Meyer Jewelers, and Littman Jewelers with an annual revenue of more than $70 billion. Kroger today ranks as one of the nation’s largest retailers.

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Kresge Corporation opened the first Kmart store in Garden City, Michigan under the leadership of executive Harry Cunningham. Kmart became major American retail chains as the second largest United States discount department stores, which pertains in history of marketing general merchandise mainly through variety stores and discount. The company’s expansion kept growing through the 20th century, and it operated about 2,200 Kmart, Super Kmart stores, and Big Kmart by 2000 in the U.S, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. In 2002, however, Kmart faced bankruptcy after competition with the world’s largest retailer.

Sears Holding Corporation is a publicly traded company, which is the parent to such brands as Sears, Kenmore, Kmart, Land’s End and Die Hard (Sears Holdings Corporation, 2011). I selected Sears for this paper because it is a large U.S. based retailer, and I wanted to analyze communications from a company that may have had a difficult year. Any publicly traded company that either misses Wall Street analysts’ expectations, the company’s own publicized guidance, or has a drop in year over year performance is going to have to take an extra effort in their communications regarding annual results. According to Sear’s recently submitted 10-k report found on EDGAR, the company had a decline in both operating income and revenue from 2009 (U.S.